In Alaska, we are no strangers to bears. Being the only state in the nation that is home to three different bear species – black, brown/grizzly, and polar bears, we are quite familiar with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth.
However, just like any other animal, bears can experience dental issues. At the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minnesota, a 800-pound Alaskan brown bear named Tundra needed a dental crown for one of his teeth, making him the proud recipient of the world’s biggest dental crown.
I can bearly bear-leive it.
Tundra underwent sedation on Monday for the procedure, during which he was fitted with the enormous dental crown. The zoo reported that it is the largest dental crown ever made.
“He’s got a little glint in his smile now,” zoo marketing manager Caroline Routley said Wednesday.
I was unable to confirm a rumor that Tundra was thinking of becoming an aspiring rapper, thus showing off his shiny chopper on stage. But musical career or not, Tundra’s new tooth set a record.
Brown plans to publish a paper on the procedure in the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry later this year.
The video of the procedure was tastefully done. Such procedures can be grizzly viewing to those unprepared for them. Fortunately, the people assisting Dr. Brown, I imagine, would happily paws to bear witness.
Zoo bears, of course, tend to lead easier lives than wild bears, resulting in them not having as much good, hard muscle as their wild counterparts; one might almost say they are gummy bears. A little bear conditioning may be in order.
But even bears who aren’t physically fit can suffer from bad teeth. Besides, poor dental hygiene can be em-bear-assing, leading to the animal having to wave off on such events as bearaoke and blue-bear-y pie eating contests.
